Gorehounds Unite!

MONDO COLLECTO OVERVIEW:

MONDO COLLECTO is a thrilling documentary that boldly reveals the world of the Modern Collector. Produced by filmmaker R.P. Whalen and featuring Ted V. Mikels, MONDO COLLECTO is the result of a four year project that presents some of the most unusual collectors and their collections that Whalen could find using a very minute budget. The end result is a fascinating, thrilling, and sometimes shocking documentary that will entertain you from beginning to end with all points in between

MONDO COLLECTO REVIEW:

 Where to start.........I was contacted about reviewing this movie about a week back and of course I was interested as I have a love for both the old Mondo movies as well as being a collector myself, So I had some expectations going into this one. I recieved the film this morning and immediatly took it home and watched it that night not really knowing what this movie was gonna come off as, It could have went 1 of 2 ways which were either gonna be full mondo style or just a normal documentary about people who collect various things and their collections. To my suprise it was actually a little of both.

  The film is made up of a few different collectors (who I might be inclined to call certifiably insane!) broken up by scenes of girls Go Go Dancing and a few obviously faked and staged scenes ala the real Mondo movies of the 60's. For the uninitiated I will include a brief description of the Mondo movies:

A Mondo film is a documentary film, sometimes resembling a pseudo-documentary, usually depicting sensational topics and scenes.

The fad started with Mondo Cane (1962) by Gualtiero Jacopetti and proved quite popular. Mondo films are often easily recognized by name, as even English language mondo films often included the term "mondo" in their titles. Over the years the film makers wanted to top each other in shock value in order to draw in audiences. Cruelty to animals, accidents, tribal initiation rites and surgeries are a common feature of a typical mondo. Much of the action is also staged, even though the film makers may claim their goal to document only "the reality".

The Russ Meyer film Mondo Topless was one of the few "documentaries" restricted to the old midnight movie circuit of the pre-VCR era, as it explored strip clubs in 1960s San Francisco, at a time when strip clubs were a novelty in the United States restricted to centers of port-city decadence such as San Francisco.

Other examples of movies in this genre include Mondo di Notte by Gianni Proia, Mondo Balordo by Roberto Bianchi Montero, and Mondo Ford by Ricardo Fratelli.

The eighties saw a resurgence of Mondo movies, though now they focused almost solely on onscreen death, rather than cultures of the world. The Faces of Death series is probably the best known example of this type of mondo, or 'death' movie. The producers at this time still used faked footage, passed off as real.

The mondo film in the 21st century has transformed into a very 'in your face', gory spectacle, as seen in the Faces of Gore and Traces of Death series. There is considerably less fake footage and many of these use news footage of accidents from the far east.

 Ok now that you know the history of the Mondo movie lets go into the actual review for this film. Basically as I said above the film is made up of scenes of real collectors and staged footage as well. The GO-GO Girls I could have done without as it just seemed like filler to flesh out the movies running time.  All the real interviews and footage of the collections are extremely interesting yet disturbing at the same time! The collections range from Swords and Weapons, Guns, Pez dispenser (because they look like penises), and religious items (can you say Jesus's Penis replica candle!), to so much more!

 I gotta say some of these people really freak me out and probably for good reason. One of the most disturbing and interesting is Ted V. Mikels ( Director of: THE CORPSE GRINDERS, ASTRO ZOMBIES, GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS, THE DOLL SQUAD). He's not so much disturbing for what he collects (swords/weapons) but its him without his shirt dressed like a viking playing with swords and his laugh when he kills his little handmade soldiers (you gotta see it to understand) with his handmade catapault. That laugh will be there for the rest of my life haunting me, Im not even kidding and then add the Drunk call he makes to the director in the special features and you have nightmare material.

 Im not gonna go into anymore on the movie as I dont want to ruin it for anyone looking to see this type of film. I can say this much though, If you were a fan of the Mondo films of the 60's then you owe it to yourself to go and pick this film up as it really is shot in loving homage to those films. On top of that this is one of the most ambitious and original films Ive seen on the Independent market in many many years. I would love to see him do a whole series of this sort of documentary. Even better Id love to see this subject done in a normal documentary style as those were the sections of the film that really stood out and gave the film its irresistable charm.

 All in all if this even makes you a little curious its well worth picking up and I think youll actually find yourself, Disturbed yes, But also giving R.P. Whalen alot of respect for hat he tried to do here.

 To order the film or find out more about it go to:

http://www.myspace.com/mondocollecto

 You wont be disappointed!

Rating:

 3 out of 5 Severed Heads

2 Deleted Scenes: I would have actually liked to see these stay in the actual film.

Original Trailer: this gives the feel of the film really well.

Drunk Dialed by Ted V. Mikels: This is one of the most disturbing things Ive ever had the pleasure of listening to!

 1 Easter Egg: Gotta find it yourself!

 Special Features Rating:

 2 Out Of 5 Severed Heads